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AGRICULTURAL SERIES No. 8 



AGRICULTURAL SERIES No. 8 



UNITED STATES RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION UNITED STATES RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 



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ri T T M T T T 



The Purpose of This Booklet 
How the Railroads Can Help the Homeseeker 






This booklet is issued by the Agricultural Section of the 
Ur.ited States Railroad Adn inistration, J. L. Edwards, Man- 
ager, Washington, D. C. 

The information was compiled by the Agricultural Repre- 
sentatives of the following railroads serving the State of Kansas 
viz: 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 

C. L. SEAGR AVES, Supervisor of Agriculture .... Chicago, 111 . 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. 

J. B. LAMSON, Agricultural Agent Chicago, 111. 

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. 

ALEXANDER JACKSON, Agricultural Agent ... Chicago, III. 

Missouri Pacific R. R. 

George K. Andrews, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

St. Louis, Mo. 

St. Joseph & Grand Island R. R. (Union Pacific R. R.J 

Salina Northern R. R. (Uncn Pacific R. R,) 

Union Pacific System, 

R. A. SMITH, Supervisor of Agriculture Omaha. Neb. 

The articles on the State's more important industries and 
possibilities are contributed by recognized authorities. 

The purpose of the booklet is to help direct ambitious and 
industrious home-makers and producers, desiring to better their 
condition in life, to localities where they should meet with suc- 
cess, in proportion to their resources and ability. 

Our mission is to help industrious men and women to become 
farm owners and to enable them to lay the foundation for a home 
and, eventually, independence for the family. 

Bear in mind that none of the railroads mentioned on page 16 
of this booklet have any interest in the sale of lands, nor are 
they engaged in the land business. 

All, however, are greatly interested in the development and 
general prosperity of the districts served by their respective lines. 

The interests of the railroads and the communities served by 
the lines are identical and interwoven. Prosperous communities 
mean prosperous railroads. A well-satisfied settler is a good asset. 
A misplaced man is a liability. Our interest does not cease with 
the location of the settler. We are deeply interested in his suc- 
cess. We stand ready at all times to help the newcomer with his 
problems. Much valuable knowledge of farm practices and op- 
portunities has been gained by observation and experience which 
will prove helpful to farmers. This is available to all inquirers. 

The Railroad Agricultural Representatives have for years 
made a careful study of conditions, and keep in touch with their 
territories. 

Owing to limited space, detailed information is not attempted 
in this booklet, but should the reader desire any special informa- 
tion on any subject connected with any branch of farming or 
stock raising, in any locality in Kansas, it can be secured by. ■ 
writing to or calling upon the address stamped on the 
last page of this booklet. 

State fully just what is desired. Prompt and dependable in- 
formation will be furnished. 



Topeka, June 25, 1919 

As the ages of states and nations go, Kansas is young. Natur- 
ally, her resources are largely undeveloped. With most of our 
land arable, and less than half of it under the plow, manifestly 
a most inviting field is presented in agriculture, the State's chief 
industry. Opportunities are no less abundant than when Govern- 
ment land was available for homestead, or the difference in the 
price of land is more than offset by the present-day advantages 
of civilization — as schools, churches, transportation and markets. 
Kansas' leadership in agriculture, her inestimable wealth of 
underground treasures of coal and salt and lead and zinc and 
oil and gas, with a fertile soil and health-giving climate, form an 
incomparable combination attractive alike to the homeseeker 
and the investor. Come to Kansas and share in the large pros- 
perity that comes through the development of the resources 
which have been so ably featured by the several recognized 
authorities in this booklet, which I have carefully noted and fully 
endorsed. 




.y^^^^>^ 



Governor 



Topeka, Kan., June 25, 1919 

Were the land of Kansas equally apportioned among the 
present inhabitants of the State, each man, woman and child 
would have a tract of about thirty-three acres. As a matter of 
fact, the Kansas farms average 244 acres in size. The total area 
of Kansas amounts to 82,158 square miles, or 52,531,200 acres. 
Belgium is only one-seventh the size of Kansas; Servia is less 
than half as large; Roumania is 25 per cent smaller, and so is 
England, with Wales included. Denmark or Switzerland is little 
more than a fourth as large, and the Netherlands are not one- 
fourth. The states of Pennsylvania and Indiana, or Maine and 
Ohio united, or all New England, with Delaware and Maryland 
for company, could find resting room on her ample bosom. 
According to the latest census Kansas had 1,734,000 inhabitants. 
If the population to the square mile in Kansas equaled that of 
England before the war, Kansas would have fifty -five million 
people; if as great as that of Belgium, 54,600,000 people; similarly, 
if on a par with Massachusetts, we would have 37,000,000 inhabi- 
tants; if even with Ohio, 10,000,000, or with Illinois, 9,000,000. 
When the resources of Kansas are fully developed, the State will 
sustain a vastly increased population. No state, perhaps, offers 
greater opportunities than Kansas, or promises more to those 
who will intelligently till. 



q7 •^ ••• 

2 




Secretary State Board of Agriculture 



U. S. RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




1 he most profitable farm is the one that produces a diversity of crops and live stock. Kansas offers 
exceptional opportunities for diversified farming 



Kansas 



A Debt-Free State 

Walter L. Payne, State Treasurer 

Kansas has no outstanding indebtedness, except 
current expenses for the present month. The School 
Fund of Kansas owns municipal bonds as issued 
by the municipalities of Kansas in the amount of 
$10,674,170.23. Valuation of all property in 1918, 
$3,418,798,220. Tax levy, for 1918, 1^^- mills, 
which produced in taxes, for the current tax year, 
$3,999,995. For current expenses and legislative 
expenses we have so far drawn, in this current tax 
year, 1919, $1,400,173.39, leaving a balance available 
of $2,599,821.61. 

In addition to this amount, there is produced each 
fiscal year, from fees and licenses collected by the 
several departments, approximately $1,250,000, which 
goes to the general revenue of the State. The interest 
collected by the School Fund upon the bonds held and 
owned by the State, produces approximately $450,000 
per calendar year. 



W. M. Jardine, President Kansas State Agricultural College 
Kansas is known as a great agricultural State. It 
is true that Kansas is rapidly reaching for first place in 



oil production; that only one other state outranks 
Kansas in the production of lead and zinc ores; that 
only two other states produce more salt than Kansas; 
that natural gas has long been a commercial product 
of the State; and that there is coal enough under 
Kansas soil to furnish power for all her manufacturing 
and mining industries and for domestic purposes for 
numberless decades. It is true that Kansas has manu- 
facturing industries worth not less than $330,000,000, 
including meat packing, flour milling, and beet sugar 
making. Yet, in spite of all her mineral resources and 
manufacturing interests, Kansas bases her reputation 
for usefulness before the world on agriculture. 



Probably the chief assets which have operated to 
make Kansas a great agricultural State are richness 
of soil, long growing season, adequate rainfall when 
properly utilized, and nearness to market. We can 
grow wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, sorghum, alfalfa, 
cow peas, soy beans, potatoes, sugar beets, garden 
truck, and fruits of all kinds common to a temperate 
climate. An abundant supply of feeds and pasture 
has encouraged the development of the live-stock 
industry. Cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry furnish a 



KANSAS — THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




Kansas ranks fourth among states in cattle growing and probably the largest factor in making it a 
great cattle state has been the vast extent of her pasture lands 



ready means of marketing as a finished product, 
forage crops of Kansas farms and the by-products of 
grain farming. The largest stock markets of the 
country are within easy reach. It is hard to beat the 
combination of wheat, corn, alfalfa, sorghums, silos, 
pastures, cattle, and hogs as a means of producing 
wealth. 

The Cr Kansas Famous 

Wheat is the crop that brought fame to Kansas. 
Not only does the State lead in the extent of produc- 
tion, but also in the quality of her hard red winter 
wheat. The record crop of 180,000,000 bushels, in 1914, 
will probably be exceeded in 1919. Not less than 
11,000,000 acres have been sown and the total yield 
will probably exceed 200,000,000 bushels this year. 

Kansas farmers are showing great interest in the 
new strain of hard, red winter wheat, called Kanred, 
which has been developed by the Kansas State Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station at Manhattan. In tests 
covering a number of years this improved wheat has 
given an average increased yield over Turkey Red and 
Kharkof of from 3.4 to 5.2 bushels. Fifty thousand 
acres were planted to Kanred wheat the fall of 1918. 
It is planned that the total yield shall be used for seed 
and it is expected that there will be enough to seed 
7,000,000 acres. 

Corn Also a Wealth Producer 

While it is the tremendous wheat crops that have 
made Kansas famous, com has been one of the State's 



greatest sources of wealth. In total yield and value, 
corn has had the lead of wheat in not less than nine 
years out of ten during the entire history of the State. 
The two-hundred-million bushel mark has been 
exceeded several times. 

Sors^hums as Life Insurance 

While wheat and com are the great sources of the 
productive wealth of Kansas, the sorghums which 
were introduced about the same time as alfalfa, have 
come to form the State's life insurance. The sorghums 
are undisturbed by the ordinary dry spell. If a drought 
sets in they settle down to a state of siege and when 
the time of stress ends, as it always does, they pick up, 
show new life, and renew their business of making 
feed for Kansas live stock. In other words, sorghums 
possess the ability to resist droughts. The Kansas Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station is earnestly endeavor- 
ing to develop to a still greater degree this valuable 
characteristic. 

It has been shown through feeding tests at the 
Agricultural Experiment Station that the grain of 
sorghums is equal practically pound for pound to corn 
in feed value for live stock. 

A Great Live-Stock State 

The live-stock industry has kept pace with 
the growth in crop production. The State ranks 
fourth among states in cattle growing, being one of 
the four states whose cattle number not less than 




A small part of one of the many oil fields in Kansas. The oil industry furnishes employment for thousands of men 
and oil centers offer splendid markets for truck, dairying and poultry products 



2,000,000. Probably the largest factor in making 
Kansas a great cattle State has been the vast extent 
of her pasture lands. Of the 52,000,000 acres of land 
approximately 20,000,000 acres are grazing lands cov- 
ered with native grasses. In western Kansas the buffalo 
grass, native to that region, cures as it stands and 
furnishes nutritious feed which the cattle harvest 
themselves in summer and winter feeding. Kansas 
winters are comparatively mild and the winter feed 
requirements for animals are low. Dairying is a grow- 
ing industry in the State, Kansas being among the 
first eight states of the Union in number of milk cows. 
Not less than 74.6 per cent of all farms in the State 
produce hogs. More Kansas farms produce hogs than 
any other class of meat animals. Kansas can grow 
hogs possibly as cheap as any other state because of 
the extensive alfalfa fields and the abundance of bran 
and shorts, by-products of the milling industry. 



important industry. Truck gardening can be done 
profitably near any large city furnishing an adequate 
market. Several nursery stock growing enterprises are 
located in the Kaw Valley. 

irrigation 

In the Garden City and Scott City districts the 
growing of sugar beets and the manufacture of beet 
sugar constitute an important industry. The beets 
are grown by irrigation and the water is secured mainly 
from wells by pumping. Throughout the Arkansas 
River Valley from Colorado to the Oklahoma State 
line there exists a large quantity of underground water 
varying from seven to forty feet beneath the surface. 
Pumping for irrigation is no longer an experiment and 
not only sugar beets but all kinds of farm and garden 
crops are now grown in the Arkansas River Valley by 
means of water secured through pumping. This sec- 
tion is destined to great agricultural development. 



While all parts of the State are adapted to crop and 
live-stock production, the diversity of the soil and 
climate makes possible many different types of 
tarming. The northeastern section and parts of the 
Arkansas River Valley are admirably adapted to apple 
growing. The Kaw Valley and the eastern Arkansas 
River Valley furnish ideal conditions for potato pro- 
duction, and since Kansas potatoes are ready for 
market in July and August, an in-between season for 
southern and northern potatoes, potato growing is an 



Kansas is no place for the laggard, but for the man 
who has stuff in him, who possesses an average amount 
of intelligence and is willing to work and save, the 
State offers all the essentials for success. It is true 
that today and henceforth greater efficiency must be 
exercised in the business of farming in order to make 
a profit. Farmers must take a lesson from the fact that 
much of the wealth of the large industrial organiza- 
tions has been created through the utilization of 



K A N 



THESTATE BuuiNiihUL 




Kansas ranks third in the Union in the production of salt, but leads in oil. lead, zinc and coal. 
Her industrial centers furnish home markets for the farmers' produce 



by-products formerly considered worthless. In like 
manner the by-products of grain farming, such as 
corn and sorghum stalks and wheat and oats straw, 
must be given a market value through feeding to live 
stock. The silo must become an essential part of farm 
equipment. 

All that is needed is to put into practice sound 
principles of farming. The man that harnesses up with 
his own intelligence and industry the natural resources 
of Kansas in climate, soil, and geographical location, 
will get on without difficulty. 

iukl: 

The State, for the purposes of this booklet, has been 
divided into three sections. 

THE EASTERN, and oldest part, includes the 
following counties: 

Doniphan, Brown, Memaha, Marshall, Washing- 
ton, Atchison, Jackson, Pottawatomie, Riley, Clay, Wy- 
andotte, Leavenworth, Jefferson, Shawnee, Wabaun- 
see, Geary, Dickinson, Johnson, Douglas, Osage, Mor- 
ris, Miami, Franklin, Lyon, Chase, Marion, Linn, 
Anderson, Doffey, Bourbon, Allen, Woodson, Green- 
wood, Butler, Crawford, Neosho, Wilson, Elk, Cher- 
okee, Labette, Montgomery, Chautauqua and Cowley. 

This, as a whole, is a highly developed agricultural 
and live-stock section. 

Lands in the Eastern Section range from $60 to $200 
or more an acre, dependent on soil character, improve- 
ments, distance to railroad and markets. 



CENTRAL KANSAS, which includes: 

Republic, Jewell, Smith, Phillips, Norton, Cloud, 
Mitchell, Osborne, Rooks, Graham, Ottawa, Lincoln, 
Russell, Ellis, Trego, Saline, Ellsworth, Barton, Rush, 
Ness, McPherson, Rice, Harvey, Reno, Stafford, 
Pawnee, Hodgeman, Sedgwick, Kingman, Pratt, Ed- 
wards, Kiowa, Ford, Sumner, Harper, Barber, Coman- 
che and Clark. 

This is a fairly well developed section with most of 
the land being utilized to good advantage. There are, 
however, many opportunities to purchase lands at 
prices ranging from $25 to $125 an acre, according 
to improvements, soil, distance to markets, etc. 

WESTERN and SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS is 
largely susceptible to agricultural development. A 
settler can still secure desirable farming lands at prices 
ranging from $12.50 to $45 an acre, according to im- 
provements, soil, location, distance to railroads and 
markets. It comprises the following counties: 

Decatur, Rawlins, Cheyenne, Sheridan, Thomas, 
Sherman, Gove, Logan, Wallace, Lane, Scott, Wichita, 
Greeley, Finney, Kearney, Hamilton, Gray, Haskell, 
Grant, Stanton, Meade, Seward, Stevens and Morton. 

In all the three sections outlined, it should be kept 
in mind that highly productive bottom lands, and 
lands along streams, command much higher prices 
than the uplands. As the Western and Southwestern 
Sections will naturally appeal to the man of small 
means, a short review of these counties is herewith 
given. 



K. U P-. 



DMINISTRATION 




How the newcomer started in the earlv days in Western Kansas. Modern farm home, showing a few years of progress 

— the result of diversified farming and stock raising 



NORTHWESTERN COUNTIK 



County 


Population 


County Seat 


Altitude 


Acreage 


Assessed 
Valuation 


Railroad 
Mileage 


Total Number 

Head 

Live Stock 


Surplus Dairy and 

Poultry Products 

Sold Annually 


Cheyenne 


4.440 
6,255 
8,067 
4.432 
5 008 
5.370 
2,258 
3,316 
4,537 


St. Franda 

Atwjod 

Oberlin 

Goodland 

Colby 


3,100 
2,843 
2.561 
3,688 
3,135 
2,654 
3,448 


652,800 
691,200 
576,000 
691,200 
691 200 
576 000 
576,000 
691.200 
691.000 


$7,908,107 

9,274,865 

12,162,141 

10,161,053 

13,300,188 

10,630,136 

3,044,986 

8.796.366 

10.277.865 


23 
38 

57 
35 
76 
43 
31 
75 
37 


30,504 
40,417 
52,005 
32,478 
27,527 
39,200 
27,926 
32,348 
28,466 


$91,181 
122,494 
204,444 
131,180 

87,289 
213,138 

39,042 
100.386 
128,959 






Sherman 

Thomas ... . 


Sheridan 

Wallace 

Logan 


Hoxie 

Sharon Springs . . 
Russell Springs. . 
Gove 







'ENTRAL WESTERN COUNTIES 



County 


Population 


County Seat 


Altitude 


Acreage 


Assessed Railroad 
Valuation Mileage 


Total Number 

Head 

Live Stock 


Surplus Dairy and 

Poultry Products 

Sold Annually 


Greeley 

Wichita 


1.060 
1,593 
2,267 
2.476 
2,444 
2,431 
6,716 
4,386 


Tribune 


3,297 
2,964 
2,759 
3,228 
2,990 
2,892 
2,615 


499,200 
460,800 
460,800 
460,800 
612,080 
552,960 
829.440 
552,960 


$3,881,233 26 
3,930,649 24 
6,483,425 68 
7,481,281 49 
6,711,773 i 29 
7,459,404 26 
18,311,255 62 
11,548,175 51 


14,296 
18,994 
21,782 
24,994 
27,062 
25,484 
44,040 
21.485 


$19,494 
41.595 
49,103 
58,495 
27,412 
28,992 
83,636 
59,717 


Scott 


Scott City 

Dighton 

Syracuse 

Lakin 

Garden City .... 
Cimarron 




Hamilton 


Finney 







^ r-jxiM i^UUNTIEc) 



County 


Population 


County Seat 


Altitude 


Acreage 


Assessed 
Valuation 


Railroad 
Mileage 


Total Number 

Head 

Live Stock 


Surplus Dairy and 

Poultry Products 

Sold Annually 




5,053 
2.757 
6.053 
1.336 
2,229 
997 
881 




2,853 
3,235 
2,517 
3,020 
3,350 
2,800 
3.340 


414,720 
466,560 
624,000 
368,640 
466,560 
368,640 
430,080 


$10,177,869 
7,162,733 
11,971,594 
4,958,111 
5,147,903 
3,799,852 
3,552,493 


30 
31 
33 
27 
22 
2 


26,000 
20,252 
43,257 
12,392 
18,176 
17,331 
18,536 


$60,321 
24,213 
96,166 
14,138 

6,082 
14j67S 

4,787 


Stevens 

Meade 

Haskell 

Morton 

Grant 


Hugoton 

Meade 

Santa Fe 

Richfield 

New Ulysses .... 
Johnson 









-<--!<r- 



O IT 




iroom corn is 



very profitable in Southwest Kansas for the man who understands the business. 
Wichita is the greatest broom corn market in the world. 



Northwestern Counties. As a general rule the 
surface of the land in these counties is undulating 
prairie, with bottom lands along the rivers, streams 
and creeks, averaging from one-half to a mile or more 
in width and well adapted ito alfalfa. 

The rivers and streams are usually well fringed 
with timber, white elm, white ash, box elder, cotton- 
wood, hackberry and wild cherry being the most com- 
mon. 

There is a small percentage of bluff and rough 
land, best adapted to grazing purposes. 

Limestone and sandstone, suitable for building 
purposes, is usually plentiful in all the counties. 

Principal crops are winter wheat, corn, barley, 
native hay, sudan grass, emmer, kaffir, milo, and other 
grain and forage sorghums; oats, barley and millet for 
forage; alfalfa in the bottom lands; potatoes; fruit for 
home consumption. Plums do well in this section. 

Keep in mind that live stock is a leading industry in 
all these counties and that all are particularly well 
adapted to dairy farming, poultry and sheep. 

Depth to domestic water runs from thirty to one 
hundred and seventy-five feet. 

Central Western Counties. The general lay of 
the land and characteristics are very similar to the 
counties in group one, and the principal crops practi- 
cally the sanie. 



In Kearney and Finney counties, the growing of 
sugar beets by irrigation is a very important and grow- 
ing industry. 

Many large pumping plants and storage reservoirs, 
utilizing the water from the Arkansas River, make 
the raising of crops under irrigation possible and 
usually very profitable. 

In these two counties sugar beets are the most 
important crop. 

A sugar beet factory at Garden City, costing over a 
million dollars, converts thousands of tons of sugar 
beets annually into sugar. 

Alfalfa is also a very important crop in these 
counties, both for feed and seed. In Scott County 
there are also great possibilities on lands under irri- 
gation by pumping. Irrigated lands naturally com- 
mand high prices. 

Southwestern Counties. As a rule the surface 
of the land in these counties is undulating prairie, 
with a small percentage of broken land well adapted 
to grazing and the raising of cattle, horses and mules. 
There is a big acreage of alfalfa valley lands along the 
rivers and streams, and in Meade and Morton counties 
are many artesian flowing wells, varying in depth from 
fifty to two hundred and fifty feet, consequently alfalfa, 
beef cattle and hogs are leading industries. Lands 
suitable to irrigation from flowing wells command high 
prices. 



U. S. RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




Kaffir, being drought-resistant, is one of the surest crops for Western Kansas and is 
practically equal to corn in feeding value 



In addition to the crops shown in the other coun- 
ties, broom corn is a very important crop in all the 
southwest counties. 

There is limestone and sandstone suitable for 
building purposes in all counties, and large deposits of 
gypsum in most of them. 

The climatic and other conditions in western and 
southwestern Kansas all tend for health. 

Farminsr Possibilities in Western Kansas 
Chas. R. Weeks, Supt., Fort Hays Experiment Station 

Western Kansas offers an opportunity for a home 
to the industrious and energetic man who is desirous 
of bettering his condition in life. Thousands of acres 
of land yet unused or inadequately used await develop- 
ment. Many substantial homes, equipped with mod- 
em conveniences, found scattered throughout every 
western Kansas county prove what can be done by the 
right man, using the right methods. Western Kansas 
is not the place for the man who has visions of a small 
intensive farm near a large city with a good truck 
market. It is rather a country for the man who can 
handle a larger acreage, adapting himself to the con- 
tingencies and circumstances intelligently, and who 
follows the farm practices especially adapted to this 
region. For such men there are many opportunities. 

The newcomer to this section will do well before 
planning his system of farming to consult the county 
agricultural agent, the nearest experiment station, and 



study the methods of the most successful farmers. The 
fact that large wheat yields are occasionally secured 
on poorly prepared ground has led many to gamble 
in this crop. The man who depends on a one-crop 
system for success sooner or later meets with failure. 

Careful investigation by the Fort Hays Branch 
Experiment Station, on the cost of producing wheat, 
has proven beyond a doubt that the farmer who has 
a diversity of farm activities, produces his wheat at 
the lowest cost, and makes the greatest average income. 

The profitableness of the cattle business in the 
earlier days of open range, and even now the raising 
and fattening of cattle, on the rich buffalo grass, has 
led to many false impressions of easy money in western 
Kansas. There is no easy road to independence. 
Experience has shown that farmers with a few head 
of cattle, a silo, a few milch cows, hogs, and chickens, 
who raise grain sorghums for feed, make good and 
gradually accumulate wealth. Such farmers may 
secure an occasional big yield of wheat. An open 
winter for stock may make it possible to save feed and 
make additional profits, but the man who has an 
income from several sources plays safe, and makes 
money, perhaps not as fast, but much surer. 

A man, as a rule, should have 320 acres in western 
Kansas. Many have made success on smaller units. 
Usually the man on a half section, or less, who raises 
live stock, leases additional land from absent land 



KANSAS— THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 



■itsa»Mw.i^^i««« 


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\ 

\ 


^^^^k ^^^^^Si^ '^'^^^^^^^^^?^ita 







The Pit Silo can be built in Western Kansas without expert labor, and it 
should be a part of every dry-land farm 



owners until he accumulates enough money to in- 
crease the size of the farm. 

How to Make a Start ' 

W. E. Grimes, Asst. Prof, Farm Management, Agri. Col. 

Diversified farming, which means the production 
of several kinds of crops and live stock, is the most 
profitable and safest kind of farming to practice. 
Experience in farming in Kansas shows that the man 
who produces a diversity of crops and live stock so 
that his labor is well distributed throughout the year, 
and has something to sell at all seasons, has the highest 
average income through a term of years. In the central 
and western sections, live stock is especially important 
and the man who is beginning farming with a small 
amount of capital should plan on keeping some live 
stock from the start. This will make his income sure 
and protect him from uncertain weather conditions. 

Before deciding what crops to plant, the newcomer 
should make inquiry as to what varieties are best 
adapted to that particular section in which he is 
located, and secure seed of the very best. If possible, 
he should plan to produce some cash crops, such as 
wheat, but should leave sufficient acreage for growing 
enough drought -resistant grain sorghum crops, such 
as kaffir, feterita, milo maize, etc., to carry his live 
stock over winter. The grain sorghums produce feed 
for live stock in the driest of years and can be relied 
upon. 



It is important that the beginner avail himself of 
every means to keep down expenses the first year. He 
should produce as large a share of his living from his 
farm as possible. A good home garden will reduce the 
grocery bills, and a small storage pit, which can be 
cheaply built, will successfully keep potatoes and 
other root crops through the winter months. 

The dairy cow will undoubtedly give the quickest 
return on the money invested and will bring in a 
monthly cash income. It takes but a small amount 
of capital to purchase a few head of dairy cows, and 
because of the safety of this kind of farming, the 
bankers in the State are showing a disposition to loan 
money to industrious farmers for the purchase of dairy 
cows. Every farmer should have a few dairy cows to 
supply milk and dairy products for his own table, and 
to furnish a surplus for an immediate and regular 
cash income. 

He should also have a small flock of hens to produce 
eggs for his table, thus reducing the cost of his living 
and to furnish a surplus, which is always readily 
saleable. He should have a few head of hogs — 
sufficient to take care of the waste products on the 
farm, and to produce his winter meat supply. The 
combination of the garden, cows, chickens, and hogs, 
with the growing of drought-resistant feed crops, will 
insure success to any industrious man of reasonable 
judgment. 



10 



u 



RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




A cherry, apple and peach orchard in Western Kansas. Fruit for home use can be produced in all parts of the State. 

It is important that the orchard be well cultivated 



The pit silo (where it can be constructed) in con- 
nection with the above combination makes success 
even more certain. By the means of a silo a man can 
save the entire feeding value of his crop in such shape 
that it will be convenient for winter feeding. 

Amount of Capital Required 

Many men have gone into western Kansas with no 
backing but a strong body, a good reputation, a level 
head and a willingness to work, and have become 
independent. Others have started with considerable 
money and have failed. The individual factor is so 
variable that no fixed amount of money can be set as 
necessary for success. However, as a rule, a man 
should have enough to make the first payment on his 
land, equip himself with the necessary machinery and 
horses, secure three or four good dairy cows, two or 
three hogs, 25 or more choice hens, and a sufficient 
balance to build a small house and sheds, and a well, 
if he goes on an unimproved farm, and to buy seed and 
feed to carry him until his crops come in. If the new- 
comer can start with more live stock than indicated 
above, his chances of success will be greater. 

A wagon, a plow, a lister, a disc, a cultivator, a 
drill, a spike-tooth harrow, and small tools are neces- 
sary at the start. A soil packer would be a good thing, 
but the disc set straight may be used instead. Other 
tools which are used only a short time each season may 
be bought co-operatively with neighbors and used 
jointly. The newcomer should have at least four 



horses. Such a layout will require from $1,500 to 
$2,500 capital, depending upon conditions and the 
individual. Quite a number of western farmers, how- 
ever, have their plowing and other heavy work done 
by contract, with tractors. The prospective settler 
should secure all information possible as to local 
conditions, prices of materials, etc., in the locality of 
his choice and plan wisely his probable expenses 
before selling the equipment he has on hand. A per- 
sonal visit and examination of the land should be made 
before moving. 

From the Sec'v of the State Bankers' As«n. 

W. W. Bowman 

The wealth of Kansas is not imported wealth; it is 
mainly wealth sprung from her own rich soil. The 
State has 1,300 banking institutions widely distributed 
over 105 counties, covering more than 82,000 square 
miles. Every county in the State enjoys abundant 
banking facilities. The stockholders of Kansas banks 
are almost 100% residents of Kansas — men and women 
of all vocations. 

These institutions are permanently employing 
about 60 million of working capital, are the deposi- 
tories of full 450 million dollars of the wealth of the 
people, and the volume of aggregate working capital 
and aggregate deposits steadily increases. It has 
enabled the banks of Kansas to have a large effective 
part in the development of the State, not through 
direct aid to State institutions, but through timely 



11 



KANSAS— THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




A typical bunch of high-grade Herefords. Western Kansas is well adapted to the production ot feeder steers, 
for which there is a strong demand in the eastern part of the State 



assistance to the multitudes of individual customers. 
No man engaged in worthy pursuits, who is con- 
ducting his business intelligently, ever fails to receive 
the fullest measure of assistance and encourage- 
ment to which he is entitled. This does not mean that 
any Kansas bank will furnish capital with which to 
start a store, or equip a manufacturing plant, or even 
buy a farm. It does mean that any good man with 
character and ability and a good start of his own can 
depend upon the bank always to be his friend and 
lend him credit to the fullest extent consistent with 
good banking. It is not the province of a bank to 
start men in business — it is their province to extend 
them freely all the credit to which they are entitled to 
meet seasonal demands. 

None more than the bankers of Kansas welcome 
the newcomer to the State. The newcomer should 
among the very first seek to meet and to become 
acquainted with the banker. Not immediately to 
borrow money, nor need he expect that as a stranger 
credit will be immediately extended to him. There 
must first be an acquaintanceship, then a confidence, 
and then is established a long line of business relation- 
ships mutually helpful both to the banker and to his 
new-found customer and friend. All this awaits every 
newcomer to Kansas. Nothing can be more certainly 
depended upon than that the Kansas banker will 
extend all the benefits of his ripe experience, his 
friendly and helpful counsels, and ultimately the fullest 



measure of material assistance possible for a bank to 
extend, or which, on any principle of good business, 
ought rightly to be extended to any customer. 

Work of the Agricultural Experiment Station 

F. D. Farrell, Director 

Much information as to best methods of farming is 
needed by experienced Kansas farmers, but the need 
for information is felt particularly by new settlers, 
many of whom are unfamiliar with agricultural con- 
ditions in Kansas. As rapidly as useful facts are 
secured, they are made available to the farmers of the 
State through the Division of College Extension, 
through the publication of bulletins, reports, and press 
notices, and in other ways. 

Any actual or prospective farmer desiring to secure 
information regarding any farm matters is invited to 
correspond with the Director of the Experiment 
Station at Manhattan. 

The work of the main station at Manhattan is 
supplemented by that at four branch stations located 
in the western part of the State. This region doubtless 
will receive special attention by prospective new 
settlers. These stations are used to extend the investi- 
gational work of the main station and to conduct 
experiments of local importance in western Kansas. 
Branch stations are located at Fort Hays, Garden 
City, Colby and Tribune. These stations are of great 



12 



K. A 1 



INISTRA 1 lUiN 




Map of the average annua! precipitation in Kansas. Amounts in this map include the moisture from melted snow. rain, sleet and hail. 
These averages cover approximately a ten to forty-year f>eriod. Small circles indicate location of the weather bureau station, where 
these records have been kept. Figures in brackets indicate amounts inserted from records made in adjoining counties 



value to farmers in the western section of the State, 
in determining what crops can be most profitably 
raised, best methods of handling live stock, etc. The 
Superintendent at any station will gladly assist new- 
comers with their farming problems, advise where 
they can secure good seeds, improved live stock, etc. 
Address the Superintendent at the nearest station. 
In addition to the investigational work carried on 
at the main station and the four branch stations, 
experiments are carried on throughout the State in 
co-operation with farmers. Field tests of seeds devel- 
oped at the experiment stations are made, and last 
year 788 tests were made in 80 counties. 

The activities of the station reach to all parts of 
the State and involve all principal agricultural prob- 
lems, including those of production, utilization, and 
marketing. Through the station's organization and 
facilities any farmer, whether he be an experienced 
farmer or a new settler, can obtain much useful infor- 
mation and assistance from the Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station. The station, like the college of which 
it is a branch, belongs to all the people of the State, 
and is maintained solely for their service. 



S. D. Flora, Meteorologist, U. S. Weather Bureau 
and Kansas State Board of Agriculture 

Kansas has a climate which is characterized by 
extremes of temperature, great variations in the 



seasonal rainfall, much sunshine, and dry, bracing air — • 
a climate that is productive of bountiful cereal crops 
and vigorous health. 

The distribution of the annual precipitation (rain 
and melted snow and sleet) over Kansas, and the time 
of its occurrence, are the chief limiting factors of crop 
growth, and receive more attention than any other 
features of the weather. 

It decreases with remarkable regularity from forty- 
two inches in the southeastern counties, to just a little 
more than fifteen inches at the Colorado line. The 
northern half of the State receives practically the same 
amount as the southern, except that the northeastein 
quarter has a little less than the southeastern. 

Over the eastern half, the annual precipitation 
equals that of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and is 
only a little less than that of Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, 
and it occurs at a more opportune time of the year 
than the precipitation of any of these states. From 
seventy-one to seventy-eight per cent of the annual 
amount falls in the six crop-growing months, April 
to September, inclusive, and there is no state in the 
country, except a few along the Gulf Coast, that, 
taken as a whole, receives as much rain during the 
summer months as the average for the eastern third 
of Kansas. Even the middle third of the State receives 
slightly over twenty inches during these six months, 
which is within two inches of the amount that falls 
during the same period in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New 



13 



\S — THE STATE BOUNiit^uL 




Alfalfa is grown in all parts of the State and does especially well on the river and creek bottoms. 
The seed raised in the western part of the State is in big demand 



York, and the New England States, while the western 
third, the "semi-arid region," has an average pre- 
cipitation of more than sixteen inches for this period, 
which almost equals the amount during these six 
months in Michigan and Wisconsin, and is approxi- 
mately three-fourths of the average for Iowa for that 
period. 

The average annual snowfall of the State ranges 
from eleven inches in the extreme south central coun- 
ties to two feet in scattered localities farther north. 
As a rule, the ground is not covered with snow more 
than a few days at a time. 

Whether the precipitation falling over the State, 
especially the western counties, has shown any pro- 
gressive increase or decrease since the land was opened 
for settlement, and the prairie sod broken up, is a 
question that has been the subject of much discussion, 
owing to the extreme importance of such a change on 
crop yields. It is undeniably a fact that immense fields 
of wheat, grain sorghums, and even corn, now cover a 
large area in the western part that was once designated 
as "The Great American Desert," but a rather exhaus- 
tive study of all the available precipitation records, 
many of which were begun forty years ago, fails to show 
any material change in the annual amount, or in its 
distribution through the year. Improved methods of 
farming and adapted crops increase production. 

The sunshine that Kansas receives each year is one 
of its greatest climatic assets and also one of the 



reasons of the high rate of evaporation in the western 
counties. Practically no other part of the country 
that receives as much rainfall during the growing 
season is favored with as high percentage of sunshine, 
which makes for rapid growth of crops. 

July and August are the sunniest months and 
January and February are those when the sun is most 
likely to be hidden by clouds. 

Of the fully equipped stations of the Weather Bu- 
reau in Kansas, including the one just across the State 
line at Kansas City, Mo., where records of cloudi- 
ness have been kept for from twenty-five to thirty- 
eight years, none has an average of less than 144 
clear days annually or more than 101 cloudy days. 
At Dodge City, which represents conditions in the 
western part, there is an average of but sixty-one 
cloudy days per year. 

Kansas has a reputation of being a windy State, 
when as a matter of fact the most recent compilation 
of wind velocity over the country shows that the 
winds of the eastern half of the State are not noticeably 
greater than those of Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, and are 
less than those of Michigan. 

The growing season is sufficiently long to give 
ample time for the development and maturing of the 
principal crops. Only in rare instances do the killing 
frosts of autumn occur early enough to cause serious 
damage. 



14 



KAILKUAU ADMINISTRATION 




About nine-tenths of the Kansas wheat crop is hard winter wheat. A new variety called Kanred. yielding from four to five bushels 

more per acre than the ordinary strains, has been developed 



The average date of the last killing frost in Spring 
ranges from April 7th in the extreme southeast to the 
first week in May in the northwest. The average date 
of the first killing frost in autumn ranges from the 
first week in October, in the northwestern counties, 
to October 2 2d in the southeastern. 

On account of the dryness of the air in the western 
part instances often occur where the temperature falls 
to freezing or even a few degrees below without the 
deposit of frost or any damage to the most tender 
vegetation. 

'\S AND WHFAT 
J. C. Mohler, Secretary Kansas State Board of Agriculture 

Can you — by any stretch of imagination — compre- 
hend the magnitude of a wheat field extending over 
an area of 11,000,000 acres? 

And should you succeed, would you credit any one 
state with having planted such an acreage to wheat in 
a single season? 

Not likely. 

But that's what Kansas did in the Fall of 1918. 
She sowed to wheat that Fall an area that exceeded 
the total land surface of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut and Delaware combined, with 839,760 
acres over for good measure. 

Her wheat acreage alone exceeds, by 2,805,280 
acres, the entire area of the Kingdom of Holland. 

It would cover every acre in Belgium and still have 
3,721,280 acres to spare. 



Greater than the entire Kingdom of Denmark, with 
a surplus of 1,151,680 acres. 

These facts are simply quoted to give one a faint 
idea of what the State produces in the way of wheat 
alone. 

If nothing unforeseen happens, our wheat yield 
this year (1919) is expected to exceed 200,000 000 
bushels. 

Great as have been her achievements, Kansas is 
just striking her gait. 

Wheat is not by any means OUR only crop. 

The aggressive man contemplating a new home 
knows that climate is a most important factor in suc- 
cessful farming. 

Man can control practically everything except 
climate. 

The accompanying tables prove most emphatically 
that Kansas is not a ONE-crop state. 

K?»n«ia«t Cropn and Products in 1918 

The yields and values of the crops and products for 1918 are 
as follows: 

Value 

Winter and spring wheat 93,195,332 bushels $186,332,975 

Com 44,539,488 bushels 64,081,656 

Oats 50,482,487 bushels 35,562,383 

Rye 2,257,212 bushels . 3,569,001 

Barley 5,737,224 bushels . 5,601, 76i5 

Emmer (Speltz) 10,685 bushels 8.107 

Irish and sweet potatoes 2,875,701 bushels . 4,119,708 

Cow peas 3,719 tons 61.363 

Flax 205,227 bushels . 666,988 

Broom com 18,582,438 pounds. . 1,791,975 



15 



IT. n o 1 A T E 




While Kansas has thousands of riiik-s of i^ood i. ,,.(!>, ilii- ftilt-ral uovt-niimril and tlie M.i, v.,,, ,,.. ad $8,000,000 for additional good roads 
in the next thirty months. This means better marketing facihties and improved social hfe 



Millet 

Sugar beets 

Sorghum for syrup. 

Kaffir 

Milo. 



Feterita 

Sorghum hay, forage and stover 

Saccharine sorghum for seed 

Jerusalem com 

Sudan grass 

Alfalfa 

Tame hay (exclusive of alfalfa) 

Prairie hay 

Wool clip 

Cheese 

Butter 

Condensed milk 

Milk sold, other than for butter and 

cheese 

Animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter 

Poultry and eggs sold 

Horticultural products -. . . . 

Honey and beeswax 

Wood marketed 



125 

74 

421 

9.808 

4.121 

1.583, 

4.600, 

2,052 

5, 

165, 

2,746, 

338, 

694, 

453, 

30, 

48.197, 

12.939, 



057 tons. . . , 
215 tons. . . . 
310 gallons 
,678 bushels. 
689 bushels . 
036 bushels. 
155 tons. . . , 
361 bushels 

224 tons 

704 tons . . 
460 tons - . . ■ 
026 tons . . 
208 tons 
168 pounds. 
264 pounds. 
142 pounds . 
302 pounds 



558,960 pounds . 



$1,449,034 

741,628 

463,441 

15,202,510 

6,166,632 

2,389,389 

30,227,931 

3,746.296 

41.738 

1.751,722 

58,751,741 

7,293,234 

12,070.049 

244.711 

5.448 

19.767.075 

1,161,949 

1,820,454 

108,073,032 

14,792,380 

3,785,857 

140,099 

135,053 



Total value of all farm products $592,017,325 



Niirnbers and Val 



e Stoc 



Number Value 

Horses 1,053,000 $116,883,000 

Mules and asses 227.745 31.884.300 

Milk cows 683.211 56,023.302 

Other cattle 2.239.717 120.944.718 

Sheep 249.928 3.124.100 

Swine 1,467,082 33.009.345 



Total value of live stock $361 .868,765 

Notwithstanding this wonderful showing in agricultural pro- 
duction it should be borne in mind that there are yet remaining 
more than 30,000,000 acres of tillable land in Kansas that has 
never yet been plowed. 



Alexander Jackson, Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R. 

The following railroads serve the State: Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe, Chicago, Burlington 85 Quincy, 
Chicago, Rock Island 8e Pacific, Kansas City, Mexico 
8e Orient, Kansas City Southern, Midland Valley, 
Missouri, Kansas 8e Texas, Missouri Pacific, St. Louis 
8e San Francisco, St. Joseph fit Grand Island, Salina 
Northern and Union Pacific Railroads. 

In selecting a desirable location to engage in the 
production of the chief staple necessities of life, the 
wise man always keeps in mind one vital thought — 
MARKETS. 

Quick and economic transportation to desirable 
markets is a most important consideration to the 
farmer. 

In the State of Kansas there are almost ten thousand 
miles of railroads, no railroad station within the State 
being more than twenty-four hours from a profitable 
market. 

Kansas is particularly fortunate in being the hub 
of that great temperate zone in which is produced the 
bulk of the essentials of life, such as wheat, com and 
oats, live stock of all kinds, and other products of the 
farm, which all must consume daily. 

Kansas produces all the cereals excepting rice. 

Bounded on the north by Nebraska, on the south 
by Oklahoma, by Colorado on the west, and by Mis- 
souri on the east, the State is well located from a geo- 
graphical standpoint. 



16 



u 



S. RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




Kansas rural schools are making rapid advaiiceiiiciii and many of tlie uitiei buildings are being replaced 
by modern buildings with provision for all of the new school activities 



Within her own borders are the great commercial 
centers and markets of Wichita, Hutchinson, Kansas 
City, Topeka, Atchison, Leavenworth, Salina and nu- 
merous other smaller, but very active business centers. 

Just across her border, on the east bank of the 
Missouri River, are two great food markets — Kansas 
City and St. Joseph, Mo. 

For her many surplus domestic products she 
has, through her western gateways, all the leading 
cities of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast 
states, with their thousands of small towns and cities 
engaged in mining and other industries, all big con- 
sumers of the products of the soil. Through her 
northern gateways there is a great distributing terri- 
tory to the Canadian line. Through her southern 
gateways she has access to practically all the cotton 
producing states, and through her eastern gateways 
she is in a position to serve economically all the 
Atlantic Coast States. 

The products of the State of Kansas reach all parts 
of the world. 

For foreign export business, her geographical 
position is such, that all Pacific and Atlantic seaports 
are at her economical disposal, and especially well 
located with reference to the Gulf of Mexico ports, 
such as Galveston, New Orleans, etc. 

The producer in Kansas is fortunate in being so 
located that he enjoys and reaps the benefit of keen 
competition for his products. As they are absolute 



necessities, the Kansas farmer can truly say "MY 
MARKET IS THE WORLD." 



Lorraine Elizabeth Wooster, Superintendent Schools for Kansas 

While the best things in school work cannot be 
reduced to figures, the public interest may be shown 
fairly well by the fact that, during the school year of 
1917-18 there were enrolled in the public schools 
405,319 pupils and 15,909 teachers. There are 7,293 
school libraries containing 766,155 volumes. 

The rural schools are making rapid advancement. 
Many of the older buildings are being replaced by 
modem schools with provision for all of the new school 
activities. Utility and beauty are uniting in giving 
Kansas some of the very best modern school buildings. 
Many rural schools are teaching agriculture. This is 
a new feature of school activity promising much for 
the welfare of the agricultural communities. 

The 1919 Legislature passed many constructive 
bills for the benefit and improvement of the Kansas 
schools. There are ample school facilities for every 
county in the State. There are 9,439 public schools in 
the State and so well distributed that every child has 
an opportunity to get a good education. Kansas has 
only 2.2 per cent of illiterates. She is one of the eight 
states of the union (all of which are western) which 
has less than 3%. 

For higher instruction, the following State Institu- 
tions are available : 



17 




18 




19 



4SAS — THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




.m§^ 



Kansas Farmers' automobiles parked during visiting day at the Ft. Hays ELxperiment Station, 
Automobiles and good roads make social life easy and pleasant 



State University, Lawrence; State Normal School, 
Emporia; Fort Hays Normal School, Hays; State 
Manual Training School, Pittsburg; State Agricultural 
College, Manhattan. 

Also private denominational universities, colleges 
and academies, viz.: 

Baker University, Methodist Episcopal, Baldwin; 
Bethany College, Swedish Lutheran, Lindsborg; 
Bethel College, Mennonite, Newton; Central Academy 
and College, Free Methodist, McPherson; College of 
Emporia, Presbyterian, Emporia; Cooper College, 
United Presbyterian, Sterling; Fairmount College, 
Congregational, Wichita; Friends Kansas Bible Train- 
ing School, Friends, Haviland; Friends University, 
Friends, Wichita; Highland College, Presbyterian, 
Highland; Hillsboro Preparatory School, Private, 
Hillsboro; Kansas City University, United Brethern, 
Kansas City; Kansas Wesleyan University, Methodist 
Episcopal, Salina; McPherson College, Church of the 
Brethren, McPherson; Midland College, Lutheran, 
Atchison; Mt. St. Scholastica's Academy, Catholic, 
Atchison; Nazarath Academy, Catholic, Concordia; 
Northbranch Academy, Friends, Northbranch ; Ottawa 
University, Baptist, Ottawa; Southwestern College, 
Methodist Episcopal, Winfield;St. Benedict's College, 
Catholic, Atchison; St. John's Lutheran College, 
Winfield ; St. Mary's Academy, Catholic, Leavenworth ; 
St. Mary's College, Catholic, St. Mary's; Tabor Col- 
lege, Mennonite, Hillsboro; Washburn College, Unde- 
nominational, Topeka. 



Kansas points with pride to her educational advan- 
tages and facilities. 

COMMUNITY LIFE 

W. Burr, in Charge of Rural Organization, Agricultural College 

In the spring of 1914, the State of Kansas began a 
definite community development movement which 
has spread over the entire State. Wherever the activi- 
ties of this movement have been carried there has been 
developed gradually, but surely, a healthful commu- 
nity life established along the most modern lines. 

Kansas has always been a State of churches, and 
there are many outstanding instances of community 
churches rendering service, according to modern ideals, 
to all of the people. 

Among farmers' co-operative organizations the 
Farmers' Union and the Grange are both very strong, 
not only in their particular ecomonic lines, but also as 
providing social activities for farm people. The 
County Farm Bureaus are being organized by the 
farmers as rapidly as available Government and State 
funds will permit, and the ruling tendency of these 
organizations is to bring all groups of the county 
together in a larger social union. The man who locates 
in a Kansas rural community will find, in the realms 
of education, social life, religious activity and agri- 
cultural welfare, the Government and State agencies 
solidly back him to assure his happiness and success. 

Kansas has been a prohibition (bone dry) State 
since 1876. 



20 



RATTROAD ADMINISTRATION 




There are thousands of acres in Southwestern Kansas irrigated from flowing artesian wells. 
This land is especially adapted to the raising of alfalfa 



The bulk of her population is good sturdy American 
stock. 

Of her 1,672,545 people, shown in the census of 
1915, 1,557,279 are classed as native bom Americans; 
of whom 908,924 were born in the State. Foreign born 
population totalling 115,276, from Great Britain, 
France, Scandinavia, Germany, Russia (Mennonite), 
Spain, Italy and other countries contribute 2,700. 

Kansas has only 2.2 per cent of illiterates. 

The character of its inhabitants is generally a fair 
index as to the desirability of a State or community 
from a residence standpoint. Kansas is a good State to 
live in. 

i he Lindsborg Chorus 

George K. Andrews 

In Easter Week at Lindsborg, a town of 2,000 peo- 
ple, may be heard the very best music of its kind in 
the world. 

The chorus of five hundred voices sang the 
"Messiah" more than one hundred times and is 
acclaimed by competent judges, and especially those 
vho are also great artists, as being the best oratorio 
chorus in the world. 

Special trains carry thousands to Lindsborg every 
year, and thousands come in automobiles. 

This is one of the musical events of America. 



R. I. Throckmorton, Professor of Soils, College of Agriculture 

The soils of Kansas rank very high in plant food 
content. This is due in part to the way in which the 
soils have been formed, and in part to the fact that 
they have not been subjected to extreme leaching 
since their formation, as have the soils of more humid 
regions. The native grasses that grew and died on 
the plains returned large quantities of organic matter 
to the soil. These soils contain sufficient quantities of 
plant food to produce large crops for centuries. 

The soils of the eastern section of the State are, as a 
whole, very productive and well adapted to the grow- 
ing of general farm crops. 

The soils in the central part of the State are typical 
limestone soils, and are well adapted to all kinds of 
farm crops. Alfalfa, and other legumes do especially 
well because of the high lime content. 

The bottom lands along the Kansas and Arkansas 
rivers and their tributaries are very productive and 
easily handled. The soils of the Arkansas River valley 
are underlain at a comparatively shallow depth by 
water-bearing sands and gravel from which water can 
be secured for irrigation. 

South of the Arkansas River and extending from 
Colorado eastward, approximately half way across 
the State, is a body of soil that has been formed from 
the weathering of sands, gravels, silts, and clays, that 



21 



»_/ ^ * 1— ' 



!-"? O T T N 'T 




Corn yields in Kansas range from twenty-five to eighty bushels an acre. 
This corn averaged seventy bushels 



have been carried there from the higher lands farther 
west. These soils contain an abundance of plant food 
and are especially high in potash. Their producing 
power is limited by lack of moisture rather than lack 
of plant food. A considerable portion of this area in 
the southwestern part of the State is valuable only for 
grazing purposes. 

The soils of northwestern Kansas have been formed 
largely by wind action and consequently are very 
uniform. These soils are very deep, of excellent tilth, 
and high in plant food content. They are adapted to 
all classes of general farm crops as far as climatic 
conditions permit. Considerable care must be used in 
cultivating these soils, because if they are broken down 
to a very fine condition they are subject to blowing. 
However, if the surface soil is kept rough there is 
little danger of injury from this cause. The lister 
should generally be used in preference to the plow in 
this section, and the soil should always be cultivated 
so that it will remain in a ridged condition. 

The sand dune section of Kansas is very limited 
and occurs almost entirely as a long, relatively narrow 
band, south of the Arkansas River. This area com- 
prises shifting sands that are of little value for agri- 
cultural purposes. A few local areas produce some 
pasture, but, as a whole, these soils cannot be depended 
upon to furnish pasture during the hot dry portion 
of the year. 

Alkali is not abundant in the soils of Kansas, and 
there are but a few local areas where it interferes with 



normal crop growth. Most of these so-called "alkali 
spots" occur in the Arkansas River valley, or as small 
seepage areas on the upland. There are many soil 
areas in the State that have light -colored surface soils, 
called alkali soils, but which do not contain alkali. 



C. C. Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Agronomy, 
Kansas State Agricultural College 

Corn is one of the most important crops grown in 
Kansas. It ranks first among all Kansas crops in num- 
ber of bushels produced and second in value. During 
the ten-year period 1908 to 1917, inclusive, over 
113,350,000 bushels of com were produced annually. In 
sectionswhere it is well adapted corn is more extensively 
grown than any other cereal. It not only produces large 
yields of grain, but it is an excellent forage and silage 
crop. Corn is a one-man crop. Although considerable 
labor is required, it can be so distributed that one 
man can readily grow from fifty to two hundred acres, 
depending on the locality. Most of the com grown in 
Kansas is produced in the eastern half of the State. 
In western section it is not as reliable or as profitable 
a crop as the grain sorghums (kaffir, milo, etc.). 

In western Kansas it is very important to plant well 
acclimated varieties only. The longer a variety has 
been grown in that part of the State the more likely it 
is to give satisfactory results. 



22 



R A I L R 



D M 




Kansas produces corn, grain, sorghums, alfalia and null IttnU m abundance — the prime feeds for profitable pork production. 
The newcomer should have enough pork to furnish the winter meat supply. 



More cultivation than is necessary to control weeds 
and keep the ground in condition to absorb moisture 
does not pay in Kansas. It is always important to 
keep the ground in condition to absorb readily heavy 
dashing rains. Putting the surface soil in fine dusty 
condition should be avoided. Such soil does not take 
up water readily. Newcomers should consult ex- 
perienced farmers and the County Agricultural Agent 
as to the best varieties and methods of tillage. 



HOG PRODUCTION IN WEST 



S 



E. F. Ferrin, in Charge of Swine Investigation, Agri. College 

The hog is the most profitable animal under average 
farm conditions. Corn and hogs are a profitable team 
and the lard-type hog is one of the most efficient 
means of marketing the corn crop. In sections where 
com is not a sure crop, the grain sorghums can be 
relied upon and are equal in feeding value. The 
experience of late years has shown that by using 
forage crops pork can be grown more cheaply than it 
can be made in the dry lot. Under conditions where 
alfalfa does well, it is the top-notch crop for producing 
pork. It comes more nearly being an essential crop in 
the making of cheap pork than does com. Sweet 
clover, which can be grown in many sections where 
alfalfa cannot be profitably produced, is also becoming 
a great forage crop. 

Wheat shorts is one of the very best feeds for hogs, 
at any time from weaning to market. Kansas is one 



of the great wheat producing states and much of its 
wheat is milled at home. Under normal conditions 
shorts is plentiful and reasonable in price. There are 
two important advantages which Kansas farmers who 
raise hogs have over many of their competitors — 
first, the alfalfa crop, which does well in many sections, 
and sweet clover, which does well in almost every 
county, and second, the by-products of wheat. 

There is a growing demand for feeder pigs. Many 
hog feeders are looking to the Kansas City market for 
these pigs. Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma have 
contributed many thin hogs to be given the corn crib 
cross, but Kansas is nearer and can supply more nearly 
the kind of hogs feeders want. Regulations governing 
the shipment of feeder pigs have recently been modi- 
fied so that they can be handled as easily as feeder 
steers. This demand makes a splendid market for the 
hog raiser, located in the sections of limited rainfall. 
Western Kansas hog raisers have a double choice for 
marketing. If feeds are available the hogs may be 
finished; if not, they may be sold as feeders. 

Shorts and alfalfa pasture will keep pigs growing 
in thrifty, healthy condition. Kaffir, milo, feterita or 
corn may be added and will give larger gains, but 
little of these feeds is needed until the fattening stage 
begins. A growthy pig, weighing seventy-five pounds 
in October, is ready to be sent in as a feeder or to go 
into the fattening lot at home. Corn is not necessary 
to finish them. The Kansas Experiment Station has 



23 



HE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




A Kansas sorghum field that produced twenty tons of silage to the acre. 
Sorghum silage is equal to corn silage for feeding 



found that ground kaffir, milo or feterita will make 
practically as good gains and as a rule at a cheaper 
cost. 



C. C. Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Agronomy 

Sorghums in western Kansas take the place that 
corn occupies in the Com Belt States. They are grown 
for grain, forage, and silage. It has only been during 
the last decade that sorghums, especially the grain 
sorghums, were given proper recognition among the 
crops of Kansas. 

Reports of the secretary of the State Board of Agri- 
culture show that for this State as a whole sorghums 
have been more profitable than corn. The difference is 
especially marked for central and western Kansas. 

Sorghums are resistant to drought and heat, and 
produce good yields on soils too poor to grow most 
other crops profitably. 

Sorghums will frequently remain dormant during 
periods of drought that kill corn, and when rain comes 
later revive and mature a crop. 

Sorghum for silage and forage will out-yield any 
other crop grown for this purpose anywhere in the 
State, regardless of soil, elevation, or length of the 
growing season. This has been verified by numerous 
tests. The feeding value of sorghum silage or forage is 
approximately the same as corn. 



Crops like winter wheat or spring small grains 
should not follow sorghums. Better results are secured 
if late planted crops, like com, which make their 
development during the latter part of the growing 
season, follow sorghums. In western Kansas it is often 
advisable to summer-till land that has produced a 
heavy crop of sorghum, if it is to be sown to wheat. 

Sudan grass is the only variety of the hay sorghum 
group extensively grown in Kansas. It differs from the 
other sorghums in that the stems are fine and not 
juicy and the plants stool very abundantly. From 
fifty to two hundred stems from one seed are not 
uncommon. Sudan grass is superior to millet for hay. 
It is very palatable and is greatly relished by live stock. 
It has been referred to as "Alfalfa" of the uplands of 
western Kansas. 

The sorghum family of plants is of great value to 
western Kansas. It makes it possible for the live-stock 
farmer to provide suitable feed for his live stock, it 
provides reliable cash crops, and when properly 
utilized it makes it possible for the western Kansas 
live-stock farmer to compete successfully with those 
of the Eastern States. 

Broom Corn, a Great Cash Crop 

Kansas and Oklahoma are the two great broom 
corn producing states. Wichita is the largest broom 
corn market in the world, while Liberal, Kan., is the 



24 



u 



RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




Dairying is a very profitable and rapidly growing line of farming. It is especially profitable in the western part of the State. 

Kansas raises her own dairy feeds 



center of the largest broom corn district in the United 
States. This crop is grown in many other localities in 
Kansas. 

The climate of central and western Kansas is 
especially well adapted for the production of a good 
quality of broom corn brush. Clear dry weather with 
plenty of sunshine usually prevails during the har- 
vesting period, thus permitting the harvesting of the 
brush without damage from rain or heavy dews. 

It is advisable for a beginner to make a thorough 
study of the industry, preferably under actual working 
conditions, before undertaking to become a broom 
corn grower. 

It is very important to grow a pure, well-selected, 
strain of broom com. 

PRODUCING BEEF 

C. W. McCampbell, Prof, Animal Husbandry, Agricultural College 

The beef cattle industry divides itself into three 
separate lines of endeavor — raising feeders, finishing 
cattle produced by some one other than the producer, 
and finishing cattle on the same farm where they are 
produced. Kansas is splendidly adapted to all three 
lines of beef production. In western Kansas conditions 
are particularly favorable to the production of rough 
feeds and feeder cattle for which there is a ready 
demand in the eastern part of the State. The advan- 
tages of this section are cheap nutritious grass and 
cheap, but efficient, winter feeds in the form of sorghum 



crops, alfalfa and straw. The value of these feeds has 
been well demonstrated by numerous tests. 

Great opportunities exist for the expansion of the 
finishing territory by a more general appreciation of 
the value of the grain sorghums for fattening cattle. 
Tests show that for all practical purposes a pound of 
kaffir is equal to a pound of corn for fattening cattle 
for market. 

Eastern Kansas offers splendid opportunities for 
producing and finishing cattle as well as finishing 
cattle produced in the range and semi-range sections. 
Splendid pastures, large acreages and abundant crops 
of clover, alfalfa and corn, with three splendid markets, 
Kansas City, Wichita and St. Joseph easily accessible, 
make this section one of the most desirable cattle 
finishing sections of America. 

DAIRYING 

J. B. Fitch, Professor of Dairying, Agricultural College 

That the farmers of Kansas are coming to appre- 
ciate the favorable conditions and profit in dairying in 
their State is shown by the fact that during the last 
ten years more than sixty thousand special-purpose 
dairy cattle have been shipped into Kansas from the 
older dairy sections in the North and East. The de- 
mand for high-grade and pure-bred dairy cattle is 
still very great. 

Kansas has many conditions favorable for dairying 
which are not available in many well-established dairy 



25 



KAN^A^— THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




A feeding combination common in Kansas. The State has the feed and climatic conditions 
to produce beef and pork economically, and abundantly 



communities in the north and East. She grows her feeds 
at home. Dairymen in the North and East pay market 
prices for Kansas alfalfa, plus freight, and yet feed it 
to their cows at a profit. To balance this feed they use 
silage which Kansas can produce more cheaply than 
they can. The Kansas farmer does not rely altogether 
on corn. In addition to corn he produces cane and 
kaffir for silage and grain. In purchasing concentrated 
feeds the Kansas farmer has an advantage, as the 
State produces an excess of bran and other mill feeds. 
Cottonseed and oil meals can be secured from adjoin- 
ing states. 

Feeding tests and results obtained by dairy farmers 
have shown that alfalfa hay and corn, or sorghum 
silage, makes the best and cheapest combination of 
feeds for dairy cattle. The farmers of Kansas are 
fortunate in that these feeds can be produced abun- 
dantly in the State. 

The climate, with its long growing season and 
short winters, is well adapted for dairying. Expen- 
sive farm buildings are not necessary. The dairy 
industry is rapidly growing in the western part of the 
State, where the quick returns especially appeal to the 
man with small means. 

The type of cow being milked is constantly being 
improved by the use of pure-bred dairy bulls and better 
methods of selection. 

The bulk of the State's butter fat and milk is pro- 
duced by the small farmer who has three or more 



cows. There are over two thousand cream stations in 
the State which buy for about sixty large creameries 
furnishing a ready market for butter fat. The farmer 
who sells butter fat uses his skim milk to great advan- 
tage as a feed for poultry and pigs. There are seven 
condenseries which buy whole milk and there is a 
great demand for whole milk near the larger towns and 
cities. 



J. B. Fitch, Professor of Dairying 

The silo is fast becoming a necessity to the live- 
stock farmer in Kansas. It is only within recent years 
that farmers have discovered that the sorghums make 
excellent silage. Since the use of sorghums for silage 
has become extensive, there has been a much greater 
demand for silos. Farmers in the western part of the 
State, especially, have learned that the silo is the best 
possible insurance. 

They have found that in this section a silo can be 
had at a very small expense. The pit silo — which is 
becoming very popular in the drier sections of the 
State — can be built without expert labor, and at an 
actual cash outlay of not to exceed 25 cents per ton 
capacity, for the cement and hoisting apparatus. It is 
very easily constructed and entirely satisfactory. It 
requires no expensive machinery for filling, and can 
be filled with a small outlay of labor cost. The pit 
silo is practical for a man with a few head of live stock. 



26 



u 



RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




This pile of wheat contains three hundred carloads. Kansas leads all other states in wheat production. 
The yields range from ten to fifty bushels an acre 



By its use 100% of the crop produced can be saved for 
feeding. The flow of milk from dairy cows can often be 
increased more than 30% by the use of silage. The 
grain ration can be reduced at least one-fifth. The 
value of the forage crop produced can be doubled. 
The fact that silage properly stored can be kept indefi- 
nitely makes it possible to keep on hand a surplus of 
feed for future use. The man who milks cows or feeds 
cattle cannot afford to be without a silo. Every man 
who plans to move to western Kansas should con- 
sider the pit silo carefully. It is one of the great 
advantages of western Kansas. Pit silos will be found 
in considerable numbers in every dry-land county. 
Newcomers will do well to visit farmers who have 
these silos, and plan to put one down the first season 
for their own use if possible. The county agricultural 
agent will be glad to assist newcomers with silo prob- 
lems. 

Profit in RaUinsr and Feedins: Sheep and Lambs 

A. M. Patterson, Assistant Professor of Animal Husbandry, 
Kansas State Agricultural College 

Kansas, with its dry open winters, abundance of 
roughage and splendid markets, is well adapted to 
sheep and wool production. The average farm would 
be much benefited by a flock of sheep, which could 
turn waste products into cash, thus saving feeds of 
commercial value and at the same time increasing the 
fertility of the soil. 

Sheep produce two crops annually, wool in the 



spring and lambs in the fall. At present prices the 
income from the wool will almost pay for the ewe's 
keep. The value of sheep as soil improvers should not 
be overlooked. There is no class of live stock better 
adapted to building up the soil than sheep. 

Sheep are noted as weed exterminators. Not only 
will sheep rid the fields of weeds, but will turn them 
into a marketable product and return the fertility of 
the soil to the land in the form of manure. Rape and 
Sudan grass, sown in waste places for pasturing sheep, 
improve the appearance of the farm and are the means 
of making extra profits. Road sides, lanes and fence 
corners may also be kept clean and tidy by the use of 
a flock of sheep. 

Whether grade or pure-bred sheep are to be raised 
depends upon the knowledge the beginner has of the 
business. For one who has had no experience it is best 
to buy good grade western ewes and a pure-bred ram. 
After obtaining some experience, the pure-breds may 
be purchased. Careful study of market conditions 
should be made in order to make the greatest profits. 
There are great opportunities in western Kansas for 
the production of feeder sheep for which there is a 
constantly growing demand in the eastern part of the 
State. Kansas City is a great distributing market for 
feeders. 

S. C. Salmon, Professor of Crops, Agricultural College 

Kansas leads the world in the quantity and quality 
of the wheat she produces. No state in the United 



27 



KANSAS— THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




A bunch of well-bred brood mares.. Rich Hmestone pastures and excellent alfalfa make strong-boned, rugged colts. 
There are more than three thousand pure-bred draft stallions in the State 



States, and no political subdivision of a similar size in 
the world, produces more wheat on the average. 

Nearly eleven million acres of wheat, the largest 
ever put out by a single state, was sown in Kansas in 
the Fall of 1918. The pre-war acreage was nearly eight 
million acres. This is too much wheat for Kansas to 
grow on the average in proportion to the live stock and 
the acreage of other crops. The aim of Kansas farmers 
for the future should be not more acres of wheat, but 
more wheat on fewer acres. The new or prospective 
settler in the wheat belt will do well to keep these 
facts in mind and remember that his chances of grow- 
ing good crops of wheat will be increased — and he will 
continue to grow wheat longer — if he invests a part of 
his capital in live stock and grows sorghum crops for 
feed rather than depend on wheat alone. 

Most of the Kansas wheat crop is grown in the 
central part of the State. Wheat does well in eastern 
Kansas, but so many other crops give profitable yields 
that wheat plays a relatively unimportant role in the 
agriculture of this area. 

In extreme western Kansas, wheat is somewhat 
uncertain because of severe and protracted droughts. 
In favorable seasons excellent yields are obtained. 
Considering the low price of western Kansas lands the 
wheat grower often makes a greater profit on his 
investment than the eastern farmer, even though he 
does not raise a crop every year. Better methods of 



tillage are constantly reducing the element of chance. 
However, experienced farmers place even more depend- 
ence on live stock and the growing of feed crops in this 
part of the State than in the eastern. 

Probably nine-tenths of the Kansas crop is hard 
winter wheat. 

A small amount of spring wheat is sown in north- 
western Kansas. Winter wheat almost invariably 
gives better yields, where it comes through the winter 
in good condition. 

The newcomer should study the methods of the 
most successful farmers and get in touch with the 
County Agricultural Agent before putting in his crop. 



F. W. Bell, Associate Professor of Animal Husbandry, 
Kansas State Agricultural College 

Kansas is one of the leading horse and mule pro- 
ducing states. The State is steadily improving its work 
stock in size and quality, and is producing the kind of 
horses that meet the demands for efficiency in harness. 
There are more than 3,000 pure-bred draft stallions 
standing for public service in Kansas. As the result of 
the use of such sires, there is a good supply of big draft 
mares for farm work. The colts produced by these 
mares, when properly grown out and developed, supply 
the demand for the best work horses and mules. The 
rich limestone pastures and an abundance of alfalfa 



28 



S. RATI ROAD ADMINISTRATION' 




A farm flock will supply the table and help to reduce living expenses. Surplus poultry products find a ready market 
and will furnish an immediate cash income. Turkeys are especially profitable in Kansas 



aid greatly in the development of rugged colts, with 
wearing qualities in bone and feet. 

Good draft mares furnish the most satisfactory and 
economical power for Kansas farms. Such mares take 
care of the farm work at any and all seasons of the 
year, and return an additional profit in the colts they 
raise. If these colts are sired by good pure-bred draft 
stallions they soon reach a size where they can be put 
into the harness and if they are not needed on the farm 
they will bring a good price on the market. There is 
little demand for the small, rough, poorly developed 
stuff that results from the use of scrub sires on small 
mares. ' : 

Under the benefits of the State stallion license law 
the Kansas farmer can choose the right kind of stallion 
to which to breed his mares, since every stallion is 
licensed as being either a pure-bred, grade or scrub. 

The importance of breeding to high-class stallions 
cannot be overestimated. A good stallion will add 
many dollars to the market value of a colt, and any 
extra trouble or time the farmer may take in getting 
his mares to a good stallion will be weir spent. 

i'ouitry 

W. A. Lippincott, Professor, Poultry Husbandry, 
Kansas State Agricultural College 

Kansas is a State of farm poultry rather than of 
specialized poultry farms. The fact that it is among 
the first ten states in Xhe Union in the total income 



received from poultry products, coupled with the fact 
that the poultry packing industry has reached a 
development ahead of that of any other state, indicates 
that Kansas conditions are favorable for poultry pro- 
duction, and that poultry keeping fits in with the di- 
versified agriculture practiced. 

Poultry products are almost exclusively sold as 
staples and there is scarcely a trading point within the 
State where a price is not quoted every business day 
of the year, nor a section in the State where a reason- 
ably well-cared-for general farm flock will not give a 
highly satisfactory return on the investment. The 
requirements for success are a good poultry house, 
rational feeding, and the use of male breeders from 
high-producing families. 

There are opportunities for poultry breeders who 
may develop high laying families of the breeds popular 
on general farms. The demand for cockerels from high 
laying families at present is far beyond the supply. 

Every Kansas farm should have poultry. The 
climate is excellently adapted to its production. Feeds 
for poultry are produced in abundance. Kaffir, which 
does exceptionally well in the western part of the 
State, forms the basis of many prepared commercial 
poultry feeds. 

The farm flock is a very important source of 
immediate cash income. Eggs are readily saleable and 
the production of eggs should be planned for from the 
beginning, not only for table use, but also for market. 



29 



■: A S 







"^'M: 




Alfalfa yields from two to seven tons an acre and the highest yields are secured under irrigation. 
Kansas is one of the leading alfalfa states in the Union 



Turkeys do especially well in western Kansas. 
The importance of a small flock of poultry for the 
newcomer cannot be overestimated. 

Alfalf 
S. C. Salmon and C. C. Cunningham 

Alfalfa is the most valuable forage crop grown in 
Kansas. It is also one of the most important of all 
crops when its relation to the live-stock industry of the 
State and to the maintenance of soil fertility is con- 
sidered. No other crop is grown which is so certain to 
return a profit — or which can be produced more 
cheaply in proportion to its value. While the total 
value is exceeded by wheat and corn, no other farm 
crop produces a greater net profit per acre. Good 
alfalfa hay has never been excelled as a feed for dairy 
cows and growing Hve stock. 

Kansas is one of the leading states in the growing of 
alfalfa. It is doubtful if there can be found another 
area of equal size so well suited to its growth. The 
deep fertile soil, well supplied with lime and the min- 
eral elements of plant food, and the generally favorable 
climate characteristic of central Kansas, would be 
hard to duplicate. As a matter of fact, alfalfa can be 
grown in all parts of the State, but is not generally 
profitable on the uplands of western Kansas, where the 
annual rainfall is less than twenty-five inches. Pro- 
duction of seed in the western part of the State has 
proven especially profitable, and is a growing indus- 



try. The dry climate makes plump seed of excellent 
germinating power. 

It is not difficult to secure a good stand of alfalfa. 
The newcomer should get acquainted with the experi- 
enced and successful farmers of his community and 
study their methods. The County Agricultural Agent 
will gladly aid settlers in getting the best kind of seed 
and in making a start with alfalfa. Kansas owes much 
to alfalfa, and newcomers will do well to look carefully 
into the value of this crop. 

iiweet Clove; 

C. C. Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Agronomy 

Sweet clover is a valuable crop in the State. It is 
extensively grown for hay, pasture, and soil improve- 
ment, and its use for these purposes is rapidly increas- 
ing. It is also a splendid honey plant. 

The common white blossom sweet clover is the 
variety most largely grown. The yellow blossom kind 
is also grown, but does not yield as well as the white 
sweet clover. 

Sweet clover is adapted to all the soils of the State, 
except those which are acid or poorly drained. It 
grows well on sandy creek and river bottoms in west- 
ern Kansas and on some infertile soils in eastern 
Kansas where alfalfa is not generally successful, and in 
other regions where alfalfa is an important crop. As a 
rule, alfalfa is a better hay crop where it can be success- 
fully grown, but not so good for pasture and soil 



30 



U.S. RAILROAD / 



ST RAT I ON 




Bees are profitable and they should have a place on every farm. 
Large acreages of alfalfa and sweet clover furnish excellent bee pasturage 



improvement. Sweet clover rarely causes bloat when 
used for pasture. 

The second season sweet clover can be pastured 
until some time in June and then left for a seed crop. 
The seed sells for about the same price as alfalfa seed 
and the yields are usually heavier. 

The greatest value of sweet clover is for pasture 
and soil improvement. All forms of live stock eat it 
readily when they become accustomed to it. 



Professor M. F. Aheam, Kansas State Agricultural College 

Kansas has the soil and rainfall in the eastern part 
of the State to produce three, and even four, hundred 
bushels of potatoes per acre with proper cultural 
methods; and from seventy-five bushels up in the 
western part of the State. 

The Kansas potato crop is a money maker as the 
crop matures after the southern potatoes are off the 
market and before the northern supply is ready for the 
table. Add to this, good transportation facilities and 
it is easy to figure that potato raising is bound to be a 
profitable industry especially along the river bottoms. 
Every farmer and most city gardeners will be well 
repaid for time and labor spent in growing enough 
"spuds" to supply their needs. 

Potatoes are deserving of a more important place 
in the list of Kansas crops and there is a bright future 
in store for this industry in the State. 



Early Ohio and Irish Cobbler are the two leading 
varieties, but Bliss Triumph is a splendid early variety. 



C. C. Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Agronomy 
Oats and barley are minor crops in Kansas. The 
former crop is grown quite extensively in eastern 
Kansas while most of the barley is grown in the north- 
western part of the State. Oats are not adapted to 
western Kansas and rarely give satisfactory yields. 
Barley is a better crop to grow in this part of the State 
and should usually be preferred to oats. It rarely 
proves profitable in southwestern Kansas. 



Dr. J. H. Merrill, State Apiarist, Agricultural College 

The possibilities for profit in keeping bees 
vary according to the location. Where alfalfa and 
sweet clover are extensively grown, bee keeping is 
very profitable. In every part of the State there are 
sufficient honey plants to support bees with profit. 
There is little expense required over the original cost. 

Bees are not hard to handle, and some knowledge 
and experience will enable any farmer to successfully 
manage bees, so that he can produce sufficient honey 
for his own table, and probably have a surplus for 
market. There is a place for bees on every farm. The 
newcomer in the State would do well to look into the 
possibility of honey production. 



31 



THE STATE BOUNTIFUL 




A home-made reservoir, easily and cheaply filled by means of a windmill, will furnish plenty of water 
to irrigate the garden and supply the household and live stock 



Albert Dickens, Professor of Horticulture, Agri. Col, 

Trees anchor settlers to the soil. The home that 
has no garden, no orchard, no shade trees, is often for 
sale. Trees are an asset that increase the attractiveness 
and the value of the farm. They can be grown success- 
fully in every part of Kansas and no man should plan 
on establishing a home without trees surrounding it. 
A little care and attention is all that is needed to grow 
trees successfully in the western part of the State. 

The preparation of the land for tree planting should 
begin the year before the trees are planted and should 
be carefully cultivated to keep out the weeds and 
store moisture in the soil before planting is done. 

A wind break is especially important and desirable 
in western Kansas, as it tends to reduce evaporation, 
thus maintaining the moisture content in the soil, 
protecting and making possible greater crop produc- 
tion. It is also a very valuable protection for live 
stock during the winter months. There are many 
varieties of trees that do well. Almost all varieties 
that are grown in the temperate zone are satis- 
factory. In the western part of the State, on the 
uplands, the elm, hackberry, locust, ash, mulberry, 
red bud, russian olive, osage orange and coffee bean 
are long-lived and hardy. 

Quicker growing trees such as the cottonwood, pop- 
lar, soft maple, or willow may be planted for a quick 



growth, to be supplemented later by the more hardy 
varieties. The evergreens also do well, especially red 
cedar, which is native to the State and is the most 
hardy of all the evergreens. Once well established 
it will withstand almost any hardship. 



Pump I 



W*<tt<»rn Kansas 



Geo. S. Knapp, Superintendent, Garden City Exp. Sta. 

Western Kansas has more than a million acres that 
can be irrigated by pumping. Probably not more than 
forty thousand acres of this area are now under irri- 
gation, but the irrigated acreage is increasing rapidly. 
Water for some of this land can be pumped from 
rivers and creeks, but for the most part it will have to 
be pumped from wells. 

Underlying this area, in strata of sand and gravel 
at depths of from ten to thirty feet in the valleys and 
thirty to one hundred feet or more on the higher 
land, is an abundant supply of water. Wells are made 
by sinking perforated casings into these water-bearing 
strata, often going to a considerable depth through a 
number of strata to get wells of large capacity. By 
this means it is possible to get wells with a capacity 
large enough to irrigate a half section or more of land. 
However, most of the existing pumping plants irrigate 
120 acres or less. 

Practically all farm crops adapted to the climatic 
conditions of western Kansas do well under irrigation. 



32 



U. S. RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION 




There is a place on every farm for a flock of sheep to convert waste into cash. You will find great opportunities 
in the western part of the State for the production of feeder lambs which eastern feeders demand 



Alfalfa yields from four to six tons per acre under 
irrigation. Milo and kaffir, irrigated, will yield from 
forty to eighty bushels per acre. Sugar beets cannot 
be raised without irrigation, but produce profitable 
yields when properly irrigated. 

A plant sufficient to irrigate 160 acres will cost 
from $2,000 to $6,000, depending upon the depth to 
water. The cost of pumping can be greatly reduced by 
using a smaller pump in connection with a storage 
reservoir. This method is carried out quite success- 
fully by the Garden City Experiment Station, with 
a pump discharging about seven hundred gallons per 
minute. This small plant, if it were in operation one- 
half of the time, from the first of April to the last of 
September, would pump water enough to cover 160 
acres nearly twenty-four inches deep. 

The cost of pumping an acre-foot of water varies 
from $1.25 to $6.00 or more, depending upon con- 
ditions. This does not include labor. 

At the Experiment Station at Garden City it 
requires, under normal conditions, about one-half acre- 
foot of water per acre to produce a ton of alfalfa hay. 

Alfalfa and the sorghum crops, both grain and 
forage sorghums, are the most profitable crops grown 
under irrigation in the western part of the State. Where 
such crops are properly tended and receive sufficient 
irrigation water, they will produce good returns on 
much of the higher upland where the cost of pumping 
is relatively high. 



There is no need for the new irrigator to experiment 
when installing a pumping plant. Experience, based 
on the successes and failures of the past, has developed 
successful types of well casing, reliable tools and 
machinery for putting in wells, and sufficient machinery 
for pumping under various conditions. 

iruck Market anil i 

George K. Andrews, Missouri Pacific R. R. 

No better place can be found than the Arkansas 
and Kaw valleys for truck and market gardening. 
Land adjacent to, and between Wichita and Hutchin- 
son and Topeka and Kansas City can be had for 
$150 to $250 an acre, in five and ten acre tracts and 
of the kind of soil suitable for the purpose. The Arkan- 
sas Valley is underlaid by water in abundance at a 
depth of eight to fourteen feet. Irrigation is not nec- 
essary in the Kaw Valley. A five-acre farm can be 
bought and equipped with Skinner overhead irrigation 
plant and gasoline engine at a cost of under two thou- 
sand dollars. An earth-baked reservoir can be used for 
surface irrigation and filled by windmill or engine and 
pump. Crops come in just following the Texas and 
southern crops and just ahead of the northern crops, 
thus affording a sure market. Carload shipments are 
in demand from both northern and southern states. 

Two crops a season can be raised and there are more 
truck and market crops consumed in Kansas alone 
than are now raised there. 



33 



AS 



■-* .-J 



TATE BOUNTIFUL 




Cum laiiLb lii.-ni tiiiiong Kansas crops in Lotal iiuiiiLcr of bushels produced and second in value: 
a big factor in fier live-stock production 



Every farm should have a home garden. There is 
no part of the State of Kansas that cannot profitably 
produce the usual garden crops. The growing of a 
garden will do much to reduce the cost of living and 
the newcomer should plan on having a garden as soon 
as possible. But little expense is required and the 
returns are worth many times the original cost. Every 
effort should be made to reduce the living cost the 
first year. A garden, along with chickens and a few 
cows and some pigs, will practically keep the family. 

Fr.iit For H, >.,.-. r... 

Albert Dickens, Professor of Horticulture, Agricultural Col. 

No farm home is complete without a family orchard 
sufficient in size to provide fruit for the use of the 
family. The home orchard adds much to the value of 
the farm. But little experience in fruit growing is 
necessary to produce sufficient amount for home use. 
There is no part of Kansas that will not produce a good 
home orchard. In the eastern and central parts of the 
State there are many large commercial orchards. 

In the western part of the State the ground should 
be well cultivated, and the weeds kept out, and the 
moisture stored before the trees are set out. The trees 
should be carefully cultivated each season in order to 
keep them well supplied with moisture. 

Trees should not be set too close together, especially 
in the western part of the State. A very common 



mistake is to plant too many trees per acre. Garden 
crops may be grown between the trees, but it is not 
well to attempt to produce too much from the dry- 
land orchard. It must be remembered that moisture is 
the limiting factor in production, in the western part 
of the State, and every care should be taken to preserve 
as much moisture as possible for tree growth. Where 
practical, a windmill and small reservoir for irrigation 
will aid greatly. 

Cherries and plums are especially hardy and do 
well in all sections. There are many varieties of 
apples that do well. Early varieties perhaps are 
more successful, as a whole, than the winter varieties. 
Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, Duchess, Copper's 
Early, and Wealthy apples do well in nearly all parts. 
Winesap is the most popular winter variety. Grimes 
Golden and Jonathans do well. The York Imperial, 
Rome Beauty, Stayman Winesap and Delicious are 
meeting with favor. 



..A ^t. 



^r K. 



Alexander Jackson 

As a rule the majority of people residing east of the 
Missouri River labor under the impression that 
Kansas is a flat, treeless country, lacking in rivers or 
streams of any importance. 



34 



RATTROAD ADMINISTRATION 




Grain sorghums and healthy children are sure crops in Kansas. The value of the grain sorghums was more than $61 ,000.000 in 1918. 

During 1918.403.319 pupils attended the public schools 



In riding through or visiting the State for the first 
time, one of the greatest surprises is to find many 
important and beautiful rivers and picturesque streams, 
well lined with trees, adding beauty to the landscape. 

The principal rivers traversing the State are the 
Arkansas, Big Blue, Chikaskia, Cimarron, Elk, Kansas, 
Missouri, Osage, Republican, Saline, Smoky Hill, 
Solomon and thirty other rivers, named in any com- 
mercial atlas. 

In addition to the above, there are two hundred and 
sixty smaller streams designated and featured on the 
atlas as "creeks." 

This will give some idea as to the amount of 
bottom land especially adapted to the raising of 
alfalfa. 



W. C. Markham, Secretary, Kansas Highway Commission 

The Federal Government has allotted almost $8,- 

000,000 to be spent in road construction in Kansas 

during the next thirty months. This sum is tenth from 

the top of the amounts given to the forty -eight states. 

The people in Kansas now realize that better roads 
mean better marketing facilities and improved social 
life. 



The next five years will see wonderful development 
in the great natural resources of the State. A perfected 
road transportation system is at hand. 



IN THE 



YOUR National Parks are a vast region of peaks, can- 
yons, glaciers, geysers, big trees, volcanoes, pre- 
historic ruins and other natural scenic wonders. 

Visit them this summer — for fishing, mountain climb- 
ing and "roughing it." 

Ask for descriptive illustrated booklet of the National 
Park or National Monument you are specially in- 
terested in — here is the list: Crater Lake, Ore.; 
Glacier, Mont.; Grand Canyon, Ariz.; Hawaii: Hot 
Springs, Ark.; Mesa Verde, Colo.; Mt. Rainier, 
Wash.; Pertrified Forest, Ariz.; Rocky Mountain, 
Colo.; Sequoia, Ca!.; Yellowstone, Wyo.; Yosemite, 
Cal. and Zion, Utah. 

Address 

Travel Bureau, U. S. Railroad Administration 

646 Transportation Bldg., Chicago, 111., or 

143 Liberty St., New York City, or 

602 Healey Bldg., Atlanta, Ga. 



35 




Modern method of breaking sod. The soils of Kansas are very fertile and easily handled. Note the excellent tilth 

ISSUED BY 

United States Railroad Administration 
AGRICULTURAL SECTION 

J. L. EDWARDS, Manager 

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

FOR THE USE OF ALL RAILROADS 
IN THE STATE OF KANSAS 

For Further Information, address 




POOLE BROS. CHICAGO 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

iiiiiimi 



003 006 114 7 



